The Committee of Permanent Representatives to ASEAN (CPR) met with Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta on 27 November 2017.

Ambassador Elizabeth Buensuceso introduces members of the CPR to Vice Premier Liu Yandong.

Speaking on behalf of the CPR, Ambassador Elizabeth P. Buensuceso, Philippine Permanent Representative to ASEAN and Chair of the CPR, stressed that ASEAN’s relationship with China remains one of the most substantive and strategic of all its Dialogue Partners, with extensive cooperation in the political-security, economic, and socio-cultural areas.

Vice Premier Liu Yandong highlighted that the ASEAN-China relationship has evolved into the most dynamic and substantive among ASEAN’s Dialogue Partners, and that China has always considered ASEAN as a priority in its neighborly diplomacy. She called for both sides to integrate planning and development strategies and to continue to deepen people-to-people exchanges, push the ASEAN-China strategic partnership to a higher level, and create a closer community of shared future for both sides.

Vice Premier Liu Yandong and Ambassador Elizabeth Buensuceso during the interface. 

At the recently concluded 20^th ASEAN-China Summit in Manila, the Philippines, the Leaders issued the Leaders’ Declaration on a Decade of Coastal and Marine Environmental Protection in the South China Sea, the Joint Statement between ASEAN and China on Further Deepening the Cooperation on Infrastructure Connectivity, the ASEAN-China Joint Statement on Tourism Cooperation, and ASEAN-China Joint Statement on Comprehensively Strengthening Anti-Corruption Cooperation. The Leaders, moreover, agreed to issue the ASEAN-China Strategic Partnership Vision 2030 next year to commemorate the 15^th anniversary of ASEAN and China’s Strategic Partnership, and to work on cooperative activities to celebrate 2018 as the of ASEAN-China Year of Innovation.

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